Frankenstein’s Monster literally got the exact opposite of what I like to call “The Fandom treatment.” Instead of having a horrifying and/or not-normally attractive and inhuman creature being turned into a beautiful and/or sexy human by fans, a considerably attractive and goth prince who was pretty much MADE of human has been turned into a slobbering, grotesque, and ugly monster by the media
to give you visual aid to what i mean, here is what he is usually depicted as by the media:
and this is what he is actually meant to look like as described in the book:
“His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.” (5.2)
Frankenstein’s Monster literally got the exact opposite of what I like to call “The Fandom treatment.” Instead of having a horrifying and/or not-normally attractive and inhuman creature being turned into a beautiful and/or sexy human by fans, a considerably attractive and goth prince who was pretty much MADE of human has been turned into a slobbering, grotesque, and ugly monster by the media
to give you visual aid to what i mean, here is what he is usually depicted as by the media:
and this is what he is actually meant to look like as described in the book:
“His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.” (5.2)
my new favourite character archetype of the 2010s is “character is raised by an abusive motherly figure with a spider theme whose constant pressures and neglect leads the character to constantly feel they need to prove themselves and in doing so always ends up causing so many more problems which end up destroying everything and they are rivals with their childhood friend whom they hurt and the childhood friend desperately wants the character to realize that she doesnt need to be a better person but there gets a point where it looks like character is beyond hope so rival begrudgingly tries to kill her even though they really dont want to”
imo the biggest difference between vriska’s and catra’s characterization is that vriska clings to the role of hero while catra clings to the role of villain. but what they share is that they both come from a desperate desire to show the people they care about that they are Good Enough
vriska is certainly concerned with being Relevant, but she still wants the people she loves to love her. but instead of knowing how to like, actually be honest and vulnerable w her friends, she concerns herself w becoming the hero by whatever means possible. because who doesn’t like the hero?
but with catra, “good enough” doesn’t necessarily mean “good enough to be the hero,” but rather “good enough to be the villain.” in catra’s mind, she’s already made the mistake of being honest and vulnerable, and the people that she cares about won’t ever care about her enough not to hurt her. so instead, she’ll come out as the big bad guy on top, and she’ll hurt the ones she loves, like they hurt her, because who doesn’t recognize the strength of the villain?
it can be neatly surmised as catra wanting to be on top so that she can say “see? I don’t need you” and vriska wanting to be on top so that she can say “see? you need me”
in both cases their real happiness comes from recognizing their need and desire to be Cared For, and recognizing that that care does not come from the roles they cling to but rather from working to repair the relationships with the people they love & who love them
There are a lot of valid critiques of the alignment system, sure. But on the other hand, without it, how could I play my amazing twist on a classic character?
Meet Dr Jekyll and Dr Jekyll, a man who takes a magic potion that turns him from an upstanding respectable doctor into an upstanding respectable doctor who fills out paperwork with reckless disregard for proper font guidelines
So I’ve seen “Kravitz spent the ten years the IPRE were on Faerun before the events of TAZ getting repeatedly humiliated by them whenever he tried to bring them in as bounties” and I’ve seen “Kravitz died in Phandalin and is actually fresh off reaper training in Crystal Kingdom”
But has anyone considered tapping the comedic potential of “all the OTHER reapers under RQ have spent a decade getting repeatedly humiliated by the IPRE whenever they try to bring them in as bounties; Kravitz, a recent casualty of Phandalin and a brand new reaper, decides to ignore the time tested wisdom of his new colleagues telling him ‘look just don’t go after these guys, they don’t seem to actually be hurting anyone and you WILL end up eating pavement’ and goes barreling after them first chance he gets only to NOT arrest them and start dating one of them instead”
hottest take but… what if kravitz isnt the first reaper to have fallen in love with taako
